At this point, it would seem that "slim to none" is the answer, but you never know.

Of the four humans and three animals living at our house, only one of them really cares about Rockford having a white Christmas.

The problem is, the one who cares about having snow on the ground when Santa comes to call is also the most important member of the household--my wife, Amy.

So, I started spending a little more time on weather-related websites, trying to find anyone, anywhere who's feeling optimistic from a meteorological standpoint about some Christmas snow for the Rockford area.

I've got nothing to report. Some clouds, some wind, and temperatures in the mid-40s is the forecast for Rockford throughout much of next week. As for snow? It doesn't look promising at all.

The interesting thing I learned about white Christmases is that a lot fewer people in the U.S. experience them than I had previously thought.

WGN TV's hall-of-fame meteorologist, Tom Skilling was asked this question by a viewer in Belvidere:

What percent of the continental U.S. usually has snow cover at Christmas and what percent is still dreaming come the holiday?

Here's Tom's answer:

The nation has been musically lamenting about a white Christmas since 1941 when Irving Berlin wrote his famous song. The truth is that, in reality, less than a quarter of the nation can even reasonably dream of getting one. Loosely defined as having one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day, the Chicago area experiences a white Christmas about 45 percent of the time, with the odds increasing to about 60 percent into southern Wisconsin and dropping to less than 40 percent in southern Illinois. The only areas guaranteed a white Christmas in the Lower 48 are in the western mountains, on the higher peaks in the Appalachians and in the Lake Superior snow belts of Wisconsin and Michigan.

 

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